Given how exercise, diet, and even therapy can become traps for a painful emotional reality, it’s crucial for us be aware of the fundamental causes of our suffering. Think of how we can consciously or unconsciously believe we are not good enough or not worthy of happiness. We then begin to work hard in pursuit of this worth. As a result, anything external that gives us the illusion we deserve happiness for our effort will also become our own created prison. This cycle of sustaining habits out of fear makes exercise and diet or whatever our external source of happiness is into negative forces, thus compounding the root problem as we live for our bodies and for conditioned emotional stability through abusive mechanisms. This can cause disharmony within the heart, a state of mind where true happiness cannot exist.